officially addicted

i think it's official now... i'm a coffee addict. yes, i have finally started drinking my coffee black now. no sugar, no cream, no nothing. i figured this day would come... but i didn't expect to like it this much. i guess i have drank enough coffee now that i actually like the flavor :)

well, i had my pantry re-stocked with some Community Coffee (thanks mom!), and it was easy to down that. but when i realized i was truely off the sugar was this morning when i got a cup from the office. now, i could only handle a cup or so of it before craving the "good stuff", but that was a confirmation like no other! i'm just gonna keep the office coffee down to a minimum so i don't revert back too soon.

they say the two bad things about drinking coffee is the amount of caffine in a single cup, and any sugar that is added. at least now i only have to feel half as bad about drinking a whole pot of coffee! if i could only go decafe! on second thought... that is a terrible idea! i'll just take one step at a time for now.

horse

this was fun. one of the neighbor ranchers, travis, brought over a couple horses for us to ride last sunday. i could pretend i was a cowboy again, and caleb (the real cowboy in the family) was thrilled! i believe he said this horse is the great-grandaughter of the famous race-horse... seabiscuit (or sunshine, or something like that). i'm not a jocky, so i'm not up to date on horse racing names.

vacation

ah... yes. vacation. my family and rick's just got back from my favorite place for relaxation. my dad has a ranch in the hill country in texas and when we visit from time to time, we make "doing nothing" top priority.

now don't get me wrong, it's not about laying in bed for a week straight. it's all about waking up in the morning and having nothing on the agenda. that makes for some sweet spontanious excitement. here's a rundown of what we did:

campfire, 4-wheelering, mud riding, mended fences, ate boiled crawfish (imported from Louisiana), skunk hunting, target practicing, clay pigeon hunting (skeet shooting), watched "Robots" the movie, visted the alamo, ate at the alamo resturant (san antonio), riverboat tour in san antonio, bought cowboy boots for the kids, played pool, played tennis, cowboy'd a bull to sell, bear (my dog) almost ate a lama, and watched all 3 Lord of the Rings.

yeah, that was sweet how we didn't plan any of this stuff. just woke up in the morning and said "hey, let's go do something". or... "hey, let's do nothing". it was very nice. a true vacation. not one of these trips where you are happy to get back just to rest.

anyway... not that you care, but we couldn't find the skunk. seems like it was in the barn, but there were too many good hiding places. so, rick and i shot a paint can. for the record, we were 9/9 using a 22mm rifle (no scope) with one shot scalping the critter... i mean can. yeah, that was just as fun with only a fraction of the smell!

moved'ed

well, we finally got moved into the new place. the road had a few speedbumps, but the Lord took good care of me and my family. we have a great house and it will work well for us. and now that the back yard is cleaned up, it looks like a whole new place! the entire back yard was a tumbleweed garden. but that's nothing a craftsman lawnmower can't take care of :)

thanks to everyone who helped us move. we couldn't have done it without you! which reminds me... it's about time for some more of that pappa john's bbq pizza we had on moving day.

oh yeah... and a fresh cup of community dark roast!